Research on Computer Security and Digital Democracy: IMAT5262 Module

This research proposal investigates the security of computer systems in the context of digital democracy. The report begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing reliance on the internet and online services, which has led to increased cyber security risks. The research poses specific questions regarding the adequacy of current security systems, challenges faced by governments, and potential security measures. A literature review evaluates various studies, exploring the concept of digital democracy and associated security concerns, including hacking, malware, and Hacktivism attacks. The methodology outlines the research design, strategy, data collection methods (questionnaires and interviews), sampling procedures, and data analysis techniques. A detailed project plan is also included. Appendices provide the survey questionnaires, interview keynotes, and ethical considerations for the research. The proposal aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the challenges governments face in securing their computer systems while supporting digital democracy and suggests measures to improve system security.

Research, Ethics, and Professionalism in Computing
Security of computer systems and support for digital democracy

Abstract
The purpose of this research proposal is to identify different aspects of research in order to
define the research process clearly. The topic of this research is ‘the security of computer
system and support for digital democracy’. The report evaluated various issues relating to
the security of computer system which are faced by the government while supporting digital
democracy. The research questions are mentioned in the proposal on which the research
will be conducted. A literature review is given in the report by evaluating a wide range of
literature and studies based on the topic. The research methodology is mentioned in the
report in which information regarding various aspects of the research is given such as
research design, strategy, data collection method, sampling procedure, and data analysis
procedure. Lastly, a detailed project plan is given in the report in which thorough
information is given regarding the research and how it will be conducted. Furthermore, the
questionnaire is given in the appendices along with keynotes for the interview in which
questions are mentioned and ethical consideration for the research.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction........................................................................................................................3
2. Research Questions............................................................................................................4
3. Literature Review................................................................................................................5
3.1 Crux of Literature Review...............................................................................................11
4. Research Methodology.....................................................................................................12
4.1 Introduction...................................................................................................................12
4.2 Research design.............................................................................................................12
4.3 Research strategy...........................................................................................................12
4.4 Data collection method..................................................................................................13
4.5 Sampling procedure.......................................................................................................13
4.6 Data analysis...................................................................................................................14
5. Detailed Project Plan........................................................................................................15
6. References........................................................................................................................17
7. Appendices........................................................................................................................20
Exhibit 1: Survey through questionnaire.............................................................................20
Exhibit 2: Interview..............................................................................................................21
Exhibit 3: Ethical considerations..........................................................................................21
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1. Introduction
Due to globalisation and digitalisation, the popularity of the internet and online based
services has increased substantially. Individuals and organisations rely on the internet to
perform their operations which result in improving the efficiency of operations. Along with
the popularity of online-based systems, the risks relating to computer systems have
increased as well. As the risks of cyber-attacks increased across the globe, the importance of
cyber security measures has increased as well. In recent years, the popularity of the concept
of digital democracy has been growing especially among developing nations. As per Van Dijk
(2012), it is referred to a form of government in which it is expected that each individual has
the ability to participate equally in the process of proposal, development, and creation of
laws. This concept is gaining highlight as the number of internet users has increased
throughout the world because it has the ability to influence a large number of people along
with government organisations. Brown and Nicholas (2012) provided that the governments
in different countries are also supporting digital democracy since it results in increasing the
engagement of public which leads to the creation of effective laws in the country. People
can simply make their contribution to the process while sitting at their home or office
through the internet. They can also argue over the laws created by the government based
on their merits and demerits in order to find innovative solutions. Although this concept has
the capability of benefiting a large number of people, however, there are various security-
related issues as well. While supporting digital democracy, corporations face issues relating
to computer security which increases the challenges for the government and individuals.
This report will research on the challenges faced by governments regarding securing their
computer systems while supporting digital democracy. Furthermore, this report will
research regarding the security measures which can be taken by them in order to improve
the security of their computer systems to support digital democracy.
2. Research Questions
1. Is adequate security systems are adopted by the government organisations to ensure
that security of computer systems which supports digital democracy is secured?
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2. What are the challenges faces by government organisations regarding the security of
computer systems while supporting digital democracy?
3. Which security measures can be taken by government organisations to improve the
security of computer systems while supporting digital democracy?
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3. Literature Review
Digital democracy is also called e-democracy in uses information and computer technology
(ICT) in order to promote democracy between countries. As per Himma and Tavani (2008),
this concept is focused on enabling a free and equal practice of political self-determination
based citizens to increase their involvement in the process. The technology assists in
establishing a greater electronic community which has appropriate access to political
processes along with choices of policies in the country. As per Prasad (2012), this technology
is developed by a connection of various complex internal factors which affects citizen and
political norms, and it is also affected by the general moral of democracy. Thus, there are
various internal and external factors which result in affecting the promotion of digital
democracy across the globe. In many countries, pressure is created by people over the
government to adopt more policies which other states or countries have regarding policies.
Andreotti and Pashby (2013) provided that due to the digital framework, people have access
to information regarding governmental policies and official at their fingertips which makes it
convenient for them communicate regarding them and promote their opinions. The
governments also understand the importance of digital democracy, and they focus on
implementing appropriate computer system in order to promote and support e-democracy
in their respective countries. It is a government of future in which the participation of
people will be higher than the current structure which is more likely to address social
challenges and reduce issues such as corruption, bribery, and others.
Although many people and organisations support the promotion of digital democracy,
however, many experts have argued against this based on the challenges related to it.
Primarily, there are various cyber security related issues relating to the technology because
of its heavy reliance on computer system. Oates (2005) provided that without
implementation of computer systems, it is not possible for the government to support the
promotion of digital democracy. Like every internet-based system, the computer system
used in the e-democracy can also be hacked by cyber criminals. There are a number of cyber
security related issues linked to the use of digital democracy which results in increasing
challenges for the governmental organisations and people. The operating system, software
and web browser which are used by the government are integral parts of their computer
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system. In case they become out of data, then it gives opportunity for malware to place
inside the system and hacks the servers. As per Himma and Tavani (2008), security is the
primary concern of governmental organisations along with commercial businesses such as
banks and financial institutes. Hansson, Belkacem, and Ekenberg (2015) argued that
computer security is the primary objective of the computer system experts, however,
guaranteed protection from malware and other security threats is not possible. Due to
threats relating to cyber security, it has become difficult for governments to support digital
democracy since it becomes easier for citizens to participate in proposing, developing,
creating and amending laws in the country.
One of the biggest security concerns related to digital democracy is the risk of hacking of the
computer systems which result in breaching the system and stopping the operations. Cyber
criminals focus on hacking into the computer system in order to get unauthorised access to
the data, system, and servers. The objective of hacking is to gain personal advantage by
violating the privacy of users by collecting their private data. According to Helbing and
Pournaras (2015), cyber criminals continuously focus on implementing policies to find the
vulnerabilities of the system, network or servers to gain unauthorised access. The access
enables them to collect all the data from the servers which include personal information
regarding users as well. Furthermore, they can also influence the results of the polls or vote
as fake users in order to influence the results according to their wants. As per Nawaz and
Khan (2012), while supporting digital democracy, it is important that computer systems are
secured from hacking to avoid influencing the results. Since the digital democracy is linked
with politics and legislation related matters the importance of cyber security increases
because hacking into the servers can lead to affecting a large number of people. According
to Gillespie (2013), cyber criminals can find potential loopholes to gain access to the
computer system after which they can influence the voting system. Since people can directly
make their contributions regarding proposal, amendment or formation of laws, cyber
criminals can change the number of votes to promote the law which supports them. It
makes it difficult for the government to find out the actual voting count which was easier to
find in traditional democracy.
However, there are various contradictory views given by experts regarding this topic which
creates a gap in the literature and findings. McChesney (2013) argued that although the
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threat of hacking is substantially high, however, appropriate measures are taken by
governmental and non-government organisations to address these issues as well. Along
with technological advancements, the risk of cyber-attacks is getting lower as well,
especially on governmental organisations. Moss and Coleman (2014) provided that more
and more government organisations are becoming aware of the risk of cyber-attacks, and
they are investing in improving their security infrastructure to address this issue. As per the
research of the Department of Energy, the National Labs are focusing on strengthening the
capability of government partnerships in order to improve the cyber security infrastructure.
Gleich and Seshadhri (2012) provided that these labs are building scientific foundations of
cyber and network science which are focused towards helping the private and governmental
sector in protecting their critical information. DOE’e LDRD program has been a key
contributor in developing new concepts which are focused towards improving the cyber
security infrastructure of government agencies. However, the research also admits that the
current approach to cyber security is not sustainable and it is not adequate to protect the
data of organisations. Salter (2013) provided that the rapidly evolving information network
environment assists in promoting digital democracy in countries, however, it also results in
increasing the vulnerability of mobility and cloud. Due to convergence and proliferation, the
risk of cyber-attacks has increased substantially due to which government and non-
government organisations are not secured.
The number of cyber-attacks which are made on the government and other related
organisations have doubled in 2016 which poses new challenges for implementation of
digital democracy. As per the study of Chen and Bridges (2017), more than 76 percent of
local government organisations in the United Kingdom have suffered virus attack whereas
over 86 percent have suffered phishing attack in 2017. These studies prove that
governmental organisations did not have enough resources to protect themselves from
cyber-attacks or hacking and support of digital democracy will also result in increasing
challenges for the government organisations. Since various political and social agendas are
involved in the digital democracy, implementation of its lead to increasing the changes of
Hacktivism attacks. Hacktivists are referred as modern day activists who use computer
system and internet to protest regarding social or political factors. According to Oates
(2005), Hacktivists protest against a party or government order by hacking into the servers
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of the government or its officials to leak their private data to the public. For example,
‘Anonymous’ is a globe hacktivists organisation which hacks in order to support or promote
political agendas. Goode (2015) provided that the group targeted the Church of Scientology
in 2008 by hacking their website and flooding their fax machines with black faxes.
Furthermore, the group has also hacked into the website of the United States government
to protest against the F.B.I. As per Simsek and Simsek (2013), these attacks are more
dangerous than compared to other hacking attacks because the objective of these groups is
to destroy the reputation and financial state of the organisations or people who they hack
whereas other hackers wanted to generate personal benefits. Thus, governmental
organisations have to deal with Hacktivism attacks while supporting digital democracy in the
country.
Since the digital democracy is supported by smartphones, the risk of malware attacks will
increase. People contribute their votes regarding proposal, developing, amending and
forming of regulations in digital democracy mostly through their smartphones which
enables them to contribute to the process. In this system, all individuals are treated equally,
and they can easily contribute based on their electronic identification. As per Leitold et al.
(2016), due to heavy reliance on smartphones, the risk of malware attacks will increase
which is still common among users. By using malware, cyber criminals can gain access to the
data of users which is stored in their smartphones locally or in the cloud. They can also use
DDoS (Distributed denial of service) attack to restrict their usage on the smartphone and
gain access to their operations. According to Chen (2013), after gaining access to the
operations of their smartphone, cyber criminals can make a contribution to the process of
digital democracy which affects the overall voting result in the country. Furthermore, they
can use malware such as Ransomware to blackmail people in order to change their votes or
contribution to the digital democracy process. Agawu (2017) provided that cyber criminals
can put pressure on the public through Ransomware by collecting their private data and
pressuring them to do as they want. All these factors result in increasing challenges faced by
the government regarding the security of computer system while supporting digital
democracy. Without addressing these challenges, it is difficult for governmental
organisations to implement a worldwide digital democracy program.
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However, many experts have opposite views regarding this statement. They argue that due
to the fear of cyber-attacks and data breach, it is not right to stop the development of
technology which has the potential to benefit the society for a long period of time. De
Cindio (2012) argued that the promotion of digital democracy would result in improving the
legislative framework in a country since people will be able to participate in the process of
proposing, developing, amending and creating the laws in the country. The government
should support and promote programs like this in order to ensure that more people can
take advantage of them in order to support the legislation system in the country. Still, there
are various malware across the globe which affects smartphones and their users; however,
it did not stop people from using their phones. Freeman and Quirke (2013) argued that
rather than governments should not stop supporting digital democracy, rather they should
improve their cyber security infrastructure in order to protect the data of users from cyber
criminals while using e-democracy. As per Margolis and Moreno-Riano (2016), the
government should increase the investment in improving their current security system to
ensure that they are protected from the cyber-attacks of illegal organisations. It will result in
promoting the digital democracy framework while ensuring the security of the computer
system.
In order to address cyber security issues, there are various security measures which can be
taken by governmental organisations to ensure that security of the computer system while
supporting digital democracy. According to Ellison and Hardey (2014), the potential of
hacking the computer systems is one of the biggest threat faces by governmental
organisations while supporting a digital democracy framework. In order to address this
issue, they have to improve their cyber security framework by implementing various
upgraded tools which can protect the servers and systems from cyber-attacks. Roman and
Miller (2013) provided that firstly, increasing the budget of cyber security should be the
objective of governmental organisations to ensure that they have enough resources to
prepare themselves regarding avoiding the cyber-attacks on the computer system. It will
also assist them in ensuring that they have the latest equipment and software which is
crucial for protecting the computer system from cyber criminals. As per Van der Meer,
Gelders and Rotthier (2014), the resources should be invested by organisations in
establishing a computer system framework which is focused towards addressing the risk of
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hacking. In order to achieve this target, securing the IT infrastructure should be the first
priority of the organisation.
According to Whitman and Mattord, more than 60 percent of the cyber-attacks are caused
due to insider threat. Mostly, negligence or carelessness of employees and officers result in
increasing the chances of cyber-attacks. Furthermore, employees can also engage with
cyber criminals to hack into the servers of the organisations. Thus, it is important that the
computer infrastructures and servers are kept in a safe place where only authorised
personnel can access. Moreover, they should be prohibited to take any of the outside
equipment such as pen drive or hard disk near the computer system without appropriate
permission. As per Slgaia and Marinidis (2012), until a highly secured computer system
facility is established by government organisations, it is difficult to support digital democracy
in the country. Other than physically access, the cyber criminals also access and hack into
the data of corporations through online mediums. According to Akrivopoulou (2013), since
the computer system is connected to a network, cyber criminals hack into such network to
gain unauthorised access to the servers and collect its data. In order to address this issue,
the governmental organisations are required to invest in establishing the latest antiviruses
and firewalls.
Implementation of these software results in protecting the computer system which collects
the data of users from cyber-attacks. They stop any potential cyber-criminal who is using
viruses such as Trojan or DDoS to breach the security of the servers. As per Nchise (2012),
upgraded antiviruses assist in protecting the computer system from any viruses which cyber
criminals use to breach the security of the servers. Similarly, firewalls protect the computer
system from unauthorised access and ensure that the cyber criminals did not breach the
security of the computer system. Liden (2013) provided that another key security measures
for the protection of the computer system are the encryption of data. Generally, cyber
criminals access the confidential data while the organisation is transmitting it because it is
most vulnerable at the time. The government organisations can encrypt their data by which
they convert it into secret codes which can only be accessed through a key. Lindner,
Aichholzer, and Hennen (2016) provided that in case the cyber criminals collect the
encrypted data, then in order to decrypt it, they have to get the key as well which protect
the privacy of data. By using this method, the governmental organisations can support
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digital democracy by ensuring that the data is secured from any outside interference and
changes which ensure its authenticity.
3.1 Crux of Literature Review
In conclusion, the popularity of digital democracy has proliferated due to increase in the
number of internet and smartphone users. This concept promotes the engagement of
people in the process of proposing, developing, amending and creating laws in the country.
However, there are various security related issues linked to computer systems which are
necessary for supporting digital democracy in the country. The government has not
implemented appropriate measures to address these issues. Many challenges such as
hacking, malware, Hacktivism and others result in increasing issues for implementation of a
digital democracy framework in the country in which every citizen can contribute equally.
These challenges affect the authenticity of the online procedure and enable the cyber
criminals to access the confidential data of the government and individuals that defeats the
purpose of establishing the digital democracy. In order to address these issues, there are
various security measures which can be taken by the government organisations. These
measures improve the cyber security of governmental organisations and protect their data
from breaching which assist them in supporting digital democracy. The security measures
include physical protection of computer system, antivirus, firewalls, and encryption of data.
By effectively address the security issues relating to the computer system, the government
organisations can support digital democracy and implement it at a global stage.
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